The Sustainability Learning Forum

Gold is now the Most Lucrative Conflict Mineral from Eastern Congo

Enough Project

Gold smuggled from eastern Congo’s war zone is now the most lucrative conflict mineral and is ending up at jewelry stores and banks, according to a new investigative report by the Enough Project. The study found that following a 65 percent drop in profits from the conflict minerals tin, tungsten, and tantalum, armed groups have increasingly turned to smuggling the fourth conflict mineral, gold, to generate income that finances mass atrocities in eastern Congo. The armed groups use poorly paid miners, who work in dangerous conditions, including thousands of children as young as eight years old. The study maps out how conflict gold makes its way from eastern Congo to consumers worldwide who purchase it in the form of wedding rings and watches, and investment banks that buy gold bars. more[...] login_required

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sues SEC to Overturn Extractive Industry Transparency Rule

Amy K. Lehr, Foley Hoag

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CSR Reporting of European Banks and Insurance Companies still Needs Improvement

Novethic analysed the reporting of 31 European banks and insurance companies in four areas of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility): environmental, social and governance issues and their products and services. The study examines how the financial sector has reacted to the questions it has raised since the crisis. The companies surveyed provide detailed reporting on their social policy or their direct environmental impacts, but information is sparse on sensitive governance issues such as executive compensation or tax havens. more[...] login_required

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Global Witness condemns API lawsuit to strike down Dodd-Frank oil, gas and mining transparency provision

Global Witness is outraged by a lawsuit filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others to gut Section 1504, an important anti-corruption provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (1) By seeking to nullify this provision, API, whose members include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, and other industry groups are demonstrating that they have something to hide. Any claims by API that they support transparency efforts are preposterous when they are not only trying to weaken the rules but to strike Section 1504 in its entirety. more[...] login_required

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Dahlbeck, Anders

Editorial Team

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Study Shows how Easy it is to Set Up Untraceable Companies

Dennis Lohmann

A new study, published by the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF), highlights the danger coming from shell companies. These companies without real employees and offices could have legitimate uses but are used although by money launderers, financiers of terrorism, sanctions busters and tax evaders. more[...] login_required

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Riseability

Berkay Orhaner, Yüksel Holding
Yüksel Holding A.S.

Yüksel has been one of the major contractor companies in the region around Turkey for almost 50 years. As a group of companies, Yüksel is also a pioneer in terms of its efforts toward sustainability. Following in the spirit of RiseAbility –Yüksel’s concept of sustainability – Yüksel was the first company in the region to publish a GRI-based sustainability report in its sector. Yüksel also became the first company in its sector to publish an ethical code of conduct and to measure its carbon footprint. What reshaped Yüksel’s CSR vision and changed it from a quality-oriented philanthropic company to an exemplary corporate citizen about sustainability was Yüksel’s participation in the UN Global Compact in 2006. more[...] login_required

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Social dialogue needed to prevent further violence in SA mines, says ILO

As an inquiry begins into the fatal August shooting of dozens of striking miners in South Africa, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has called for high-level social dialogue in order to prevent further violence and unrest. more[...] login_required

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U.S. Insurance Companies Vulnerable to Extreme Weather, Changing Climate

Ceres

Worsening weather in a warming world poses a growing risk to the financial stability of insurance companies and has broad ramifications for the economy and society, according to a new report. more[...]

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The Private Sector Solutions (Interview Film With Claus Stig Pedersen)

Lisbet Bræmer-Jensen, Grundfos & ‘Act NOW‘

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World Bank President Calls for “Solutions Bank” to Meet Global Challenges

World Bank

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim today told the Bank’s shareholders he wants the institution to become a solutions Bank that can work with partners and help “bend the arc of history” to eliminate extreme poverty. more[...] login_required

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Global Compact International Yearbook 2012

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

With over 8,700 corporate participants and other stakeholders from over 130 countries, the UN Global Compact is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world. „I hope these diverse expressions of support for the UN’s global mission will inspire many more businesses to follow this path and bring corporate sustainability to true scale“, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the 2012 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. Edited by the German publishing house macondo the new yearbook offers insights to political as well as sustainability issues. more[...]

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Corporate Social Responsibility in China: Outlook and Challenges

Dr. Susan Scarlata, Weber Shandwick & Others

I spent the last two years in Hong Kong where I consulted on Corporate Social Responsibility communications projects for various organizations in Hong Kong and mainland China. What is the current state of Corporate Responsibility there? The short answer is that Chinese companies realize they have greater responsibilities as their presence on the global playing field grows. Leaders of Chinese companies and officials of the People’s Republic of China are aware of the need to expand their corporate responsibility efforts. more[...]

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Scarlata, Susan

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Report Slams Failure to Prevent Toxic Waste Dumping in West Africa

Amnesty International

Trafigura, the multinational company behind the 2006 dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, resulting in over 100,000 people seeking medical assistance, must be criminally investigated in the UK, Amnesty International and Greenpeace Netherlands conclude in a major new report released today. more[...]

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